Saturday, October 22, 2016

Should the Yankees Keep Billy Butler Just in Case?

Towards the end of the 2016 season the New York Yankees
signed first baseman and DH Billy Butler to a Major League deal after falling
out of grace with the Oakland Athletics. The Yankees plugged him directly into
the middle of their lineup and straight into the first base position against
the Boston Red Sox and he responded by lacing a couple of hits to start his
Yankees career off on a good start. Now that the season is over for New York it
looks like Butler’s tenure with the team is also coming to a close, well unless
the team wants to keep him around just in case.

Should the Yankees want to keep him around just in case? As
it stands right now, and yes things will change, New York will send Brian
McCann to the DH position on most days while Greg Bird looks to get the bulk of
the reps at first base along with Tyler Austin. Is three first baseman on the
25 man roster a little over kill? Honestly it probably is but the Yankees may
make it work regardless.

The question surrounding Greg Bird with every throw, every
swing and in every game will be the health of that shoulder. Can it withstand
the grind of 162 games and how often will he “need a day?” The good thing about
having Austin on the roster is that he can play first base when Bird needs a
day but he can also play the outfield when Aaron Judge/Aaron Hicks also needs a
day making him a versatile player. Butler you can’t really say that about.

With Butler you are getting a first baseman, a marginal one
at that, and a right-handed DH with some pop. While most teams would like to
have that it seems redundant to me to use a roster spot for that with Bird
healthy. I’m not the Yankees though and I can see them being overly cautious
with Bird leading to Butler being signed to a one-year deal with incentives.

If McCann is traded this winter it makes the situation and
decision a whole lot easier to swallow but I have a feeling no matter what I
say or how many reasons I put against Butler signing with the Yankees in 2017
that Brian Cashman is probably going to do it anyway. And to add on to that I
could do the same about Butler and his playing time and Joe Girardi is just
going to play him over Tyler Austin anyway so why bother right?